The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

Local News

June 24, 2009

New DA to speak at forum

W. TERRY SMITH

New District Attorney Robert A. Evans will be the featured speaker at an east Tarboro community forum Thursday night.

The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Oakland House, the former Elks Lodge on Edmondson Avenue.

This is the third forum organized by Greg Higgs, an east Tarboro native.

I want to make my community better," said Higgs, 40. "I want to bring people together.

"We do this as one and get everybody involved."

Evans has come under criticism lately because of remarks he made at a Juneteenth celebration in Rocky Mount about a month after he was sworn in as the first black district attorney in Eastern North Carolina.

He urged blacks to never forget their roots and criticized the way they are being treated by the school and judicial system.

He spoke sternly of the need for quality parenting at home in order to foster academic achievement and good behavior.

Evans said that regardless of how far minorities have come in society, they still have a long way to go.

“Our babies are still under attack from this system,” he said, as reported by the Rocky Mount Telegram. “They are under attack by the school system. They are under attack by the court system. And whether someone wants to acknowledge it or not, they are under attack and almost to the point where we are eliminating entire generations, particularly of young, black men.”

The district attorney for the Seventh Prosecutorial District also said there is discrimination in the courtroom.

Later, in a Letter to the editor of the Rocky Mount newspaper, Evans stated, "in my attempt to communicate with a particular audience how critical it is for us to take responsibility for our children’s futures, some found my choice of words too caustic. "

He continued: "My comments were not intended to demean or criticize the many dedicated individuals who work in our local schools and courts. My remarks were intended to help educate our children and keep them out of our courts."

He apologized "to anyone I may have offended."

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